"Better" is more about what stage of evolution they were at in terms of time of release, than actually being better than modern games.

The key to understanding why so many of us consider old games better is that they actually evolved gameplay and design significantly.

Many of the best RPGs of today are clearly "better" - but they still use archaic designs - and many can't even match the designs of old. But they're better because they look fantastic and because of the combined visceral experience - which is very powerful.

Also, a lot of advances have been made in terms of UI and controls, and obviously the technical progression has been quite vast.

So - comparing the combined experience of a good modern RPG and a good old RPG is not a fair process, unless you take into account the time of release.